Olsson hailed despite 'luck' of penalty

Phil Medlicott
– 29 March 2010 03:00 PM

Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce hailed the performance of Martin Olsson in yesterday's Lancashire derby at Burnley -- but admitted the Swede may have been fortunate in winning the penalty that sealed their 1-0 victory.

Olsson went down under a challenge by Clarets keeper Brian Jensen in the 20th minute at Turf Moor and referee Mike Dean awarded a spot-kick.

David Dunn slotted the ball home, but replays suggest the Rovers wideman was already going to ground before any contact was made.

By that point, Olsson had already hit the back of the net, only to see the effort disallowed for offside.

And in the second half, he cracked a fierce strike against the crossbar, which bounced down on the line, before firing another shot at Jensen.

It was an eye-catching display by the 21-year-old, and although Allardyce conceded that the penalty decision was "harsh" on Burnley, he preferred to focus on Olsson's overall contribution.

"Olsson particularly stood out for me," Allardyce said.

"He made numerous chances for himself, a great number of runs and it's a great shame he had his goal rubbed out. We've had a look at it and we're not sure it was (offside).

"He has made a hell of contribution to the game and I thought he should have won man of the match."

On the penalty, Allardyce said: "It's slightly harsh against Burnley when you look at it from the angles and you slow it down.

"But when you look at it from Mike Dean's position and his point of view, it definitely looks like a penalty.

"I was jumping up and down like a lunatic when he was brought down, so for me it looked like a penalty.

"In a big game like this, you need a little bit of luck and perhaps we have had that."

Burnley manager Brian Laws took a less compromising view of the incident, which sealed his 10th defeat in 12 league games in charge of the Clarets.

"When you look at it in the cool light of day, it's clear it's not a penalty," Laws said.

"Olsson took a dive, he conned the referee.

"The referee's not in a great position and he has given the penalty, which was very harsh and left us with a mountain to climb.

"But we didn't get a lot of joy from any of the decisions and I was disappointed with that. I thought it might even itself out.

"If the referee thought it was a penalty by the goalkeeper, then you either send him off or book him.

"I'm disappointed because we want to see honesty and we want to see the referee get the correct decisions."